Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	64/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Clash	5/10
Exclaim!	6/10
The Guardian
The Irish Times
Now
Pitchfork	6.8/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine

The Ride is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. The album was released on 31 March 2017 by Furtado's own record label, Nelstar Music.

The album reached number 76 in Furtado's home country, Canada, and also reached the top 100 in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. It did not chart on the UK Albums Chart, but reached number 81 on the UK Album Sales Chart.

Furtado initially worked alongside producer Mark Taylor on material for The Ride. She had wanted to work with Taylor ever since he had produced "Broken Strings", her 2008 duet with British singer-songwriter James Morrison. Shortly after splitting with her management following the poor commercial performance of her previous studio album, The Spirit Indestructible (2012), Taylor sent Furtado an email informing her that he had written a song called "Sticks and Stones" (originally performed by English singer-songwriter Arlissa), and said it would suit Furtado's voice. She responded by saying she loved the song and wanted to record it, but also expressed an interest in composing new songs with him and his regular collaborator Paul Barry. Working from Taylor's studio in Ripley, Surrey, "Phoenix" was the first song composed by the trio. Furtado said she "kind of hit bottom" a week prior to writing the song, elaborating that she had been going through a rough patch in her life at the time. The trio also composed "Bliss", which would be included on the deluxe vinyl.

Furtado was introduced to Dallas-based producer John Congleton in August 2014 by American indie rock musician Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, whom Furtado first met in Japan in 2012. The material produced by Congleton is decidedly more artistic than anything previously released by Furtado. The first song the pair wrote together was "Flatline", and emerged from Congleton's criticism of the pre-prepared GarageBand demos Furtado had created in preparation for their sessions. She explained: "He didn't like anything. Then, luckily, I remembered this melody – the chorus of "Flatline" – and I sang it to him, and he was, 'Well, I like that. Let's do that.' He had already booked session players for the next day. I showed him my first draft of the lyrics for [the song] and he was tinkering away at the music, and he said, 'Those are all right, but I think you can do better. I think you can dig a little deeper.' And here I am – six albums in – and I'm just thinking: 'Wow. Okay.'"

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